We found this neglected 1986 Mustang GT wasting away in a backyard. It had been a 12 second car at one point but with its motor & T5 trans removed, it had been left for dead. We have a real love for the 4 eye cars and couldn't pass it up when we saw it and thoroughly inspected it.

The body was in decent shape with the only real issue being the driver's side door. The floor pan, rear bumper area and control arm mounting points (torque boxes) were in surprisingly good shape, having only very minor surface rust. Included in the deal was a set of latemodel quarter windows which were installed, as we discovered after further inspection, because the driver's side original quarter window had been smashed. I actually like the louvered panels that come on these years of Mustangs and was sort of sad to not have them on the car. They were also incorrectly installed, allowing a minor leak into the interior.

The interior was practically brand new! It was in need of a decent cleaning but had been updated to '93 grey parts except, of course, the dashboard and center console.

Here she is, being loaded into the trailer. Pretty, right?
OK, well maybe not pretty but full of potential. The previous owner allowed the GT to sit outside for several years, making the paint faded and dull.

First order of business was to take stock of the car. As anyone who has ever bought a car like this knows, there are always suprises!

The radiator and other parts were just thrown in the back. Most of it's going in the trash. We'll only keep pieces and parts we need to assemble the car -- any performance parts will be upgraded with bigger & better!
Luckily no interior panels or parts were damaged. Check out the seats -- yup SN95 parts. They're actually not bad considering. I wish it had the OEM seats but we'll make due with what we have -- for the time being.